Dantewada attack: CoI gives rprt on 4 CRPF officers

New Delhi: A court of inquiry (CoI), set
up by the CRPF to probe "specific acts of omission and
commission" by an Inspecter General and three other officers
in connection with the April 6 Dantewada Naxal attack, on Wednesday
submitted its report to the force headquarters here.

The inquiry was constituted in the aftermath of the
recommendations of E N Rammohan Committee, which went probed
the Dantewada massacre, that "specific" responsibility of the
four officers should be "fixed" and disciplinary proceedings,
if needed, be initiated. 75 CRPF personnel and a Chhattisgarh
policeman were killed by Naxalites in the attack.

The CoI, which was headed by CRPF Additional Director
General D C Dey, submitted its report to the office of the
Director General here as the force chief Vikram Srivastava is
away on a visit to Chhattisgarh in the wake of yesterday`s
Naxal attack killing 27 personnel.

The exact contents of the spiral bound report are
immediately not known but, according to sources, the report is
understood to have focussed on the role of the four officers
before and after the April 6 attack and what more steps
could have been taken by them.

After former BSF chief E N Rammohan submitted the
report to Home Minister P Chidambaram on April 26, the three
serving officers, including Deputy Inspector General (DIG)
Nalin Prabhat, were shunted out of Chhattisgarh. The fourth
officer-- Inspector General Ramesh Chandra-- has since
retired.

The two other officers are the then Commandant of the
62nd battalion A K Bisht and Inspector Sanjeev Bangre.

While Prabhat was sent to Chandigarh as DIG, a charge
he was already holding, Bisht was moved to a training centre
at Aradi in Orissa and Bangre was shifted to Anantnag in
Kashmir.

The CoI, apart from talking statements of the
officers, also sought records and other documents which were a
crucial part of the probe by Rammohan.

The inquiry also went into the order and flow of
communication between the special sector headquarters of the
CRPF located at Raipur and these officers.

The special sector of the CRPF is headed by a special
director general rank officer who is responsible for anti-
Naxal operations undertaken by various Central para-military
forces like CRPF, ITBP and BSF and their coordination with
different state police forces.

The transfer of Prabhat came as a surprise to the CRPF
ranks as he was considered among the best officers in the
para-military force. He is a recipient of President`s Police
Medal, Police Medal for Meritorious Service and Police Medal
for Gallantry. He was considered as best operational officer
during his tenure as DIG in militancy-hit Jammu and Kashmir.